Europe's news lifts bourses

Traders return en masse to Dubai's stock market after an end to the eurozone debt crisis is sighted, sending stocks on the exchange soaring.

The DFM made its biggest intraday gain since March.
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Traders flooded back to the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) General Index yesterday after a possible solution to Europe's debt crisis emerged. The bourse made its biggest intraday gain since March.

In the most frenetic day of trading activity in five months, the DFM rose 2.6 per cent to 1,415.78, while the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) General Index rose 1.5 per cent to 2,508.94.

Traded volumes have until now struggled to rise above their lows during Ramadan, traditionally a fallow period for Gulf markets, as the euro zone's troubles discouraged many local traders.

Yesterday, Emaar Properties led the DFM higher, rising 5.7 per cent to Dh2.75, even after it reported last week a 34 per cent fall in third-quarter profit. Other property stocks also made gains, with Arabtec Holding rising 4.4 per cent. In Abu Dhabi, Sorouh Real Estate leapt 6.3 per cent to Dh1 on the ADX.

Also on the ADX, banks including National Bank of Abu Dhabi, First Gulf Bank and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank were big movers after reporting a string of higher than expected earnings results.

A slew of positive earnings results had combined with strong international sentiment, giving UAE markets a substantial boost, said Yazan Abdeen, a fund manager at ING Investment Management.

"There's a reaction to the [euro-zone] solution," he said. "However, this is also coming off the back of very good results."

Qatar's QE Index rose 0.9 per cent to 8,619.63, while Oman's and Kuwait's indexes made modest gains. Saudi Arabia's Tadawul All-Share Index slipped 0.09 per cent to 6,229.63.